JP5215920B2 - Search system and method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an improvement in technology related to search matching advertisements.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, it has become common to search for web pages that contain information that you want to know on the Internet by so-called web search that specifies keywords on a search site. In this case, the user often performs a web search with a keyword related to the web page while browsing some web page. The keyword used at that time is various, such as a keyword included in a web page, or a keyword invented from the web page.

  A technique for displaying an advertisement related to a specified search keyword together with a search result of such a web search is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1), which is also called a so-called search matching advertisement, a search-linked advertisement, a search-related advertisement, or the like. . In such a search matching advertisement, an advertiser places an advertisement together with a search result when the intention or theme of the search performed by the user is deeply related to the advertisement by specifying a keyword related to the advertisement.

JP 2007-272872 A

Yahoo Japan Corporation, "Interest Match", [online], [Search on December 8, 2008], Internet <URL: http: // ov. yahoo. co. jp / service / int / index. html>

  However, in the conventional search matching advertisement as described above, an advertisement related to the search keyword used on the spot is displayed. However, in selecting an advertisement to be displayed, a web page browsed by the user, There was no technology to consider the relationship with the interests that appeared.

  In the field of so-called content match advertisements that display advertisements according to the content of the page itself on a web page, there is an example in which advertisements are selected based on user browsing history on the premise of user identification based on a member ID or a cookie. (Refer nonpatent literature 1). However, unlike content match advertisements, search-linked advertisements allocate (select) advertisements exclusively based on search keywords, and there is no technology that combines browsing history. Furthermore, with regard to browsing history, difficulty in collection itself, burden and privacy problems due to accumulation, difficulty in establishing aggregation methods to be reflected in advertisement, time lag until reflection in advertisement, deletion of unregistered members and cookies The combination with search matching advertisements was not feasible.

  The present invention solves the problems of the prior art as described above, and its purpose is to select an advertisement related to both a search keyword and a web page being browsed at the time of the search, It is to increase the effect of search matching advertisement while avoiding the problem of browsing history collection and accumulation.

  Based on the above object, one aspect of the present invention is to provide one or more advertisement-related keywords for each advertisement information in a search device that provides a web search to a user terminal that is accessed through communication via a communication network. An advertisement-related information storage means stored in association with each other, a search query including a search keyword input in the user terminal, and page information of a web page being displayed on the user terminal when the search query is input, Receiving information receiving means; search means for obtaining a search result by performing a search based on the search keyword of the search query; and feature word extracting means for extracting a feature word from a web page based on the received page information; The feature word and the feature word extracted by the feature word extraction means by referring to the advertisement related information storage means An advertisement extracting means for extracting the advertisement information based on the relation between both the search keywords of the search query and the advertisement-related keyword, and a search result for displaying the search results obtained by the search by the search means. And a result output means for inserting the advertisement information extracted by the advertisement extraction means into a page and displaying the advertisement information on the user terminal.

  Further, not only the above apparatus but also a similar method and computer program are also aspects of the present invention. Furthermore, the operations and effects of the present invention configured as described above, and the configurations, functions, and effects in other aspects of the present invention are as described later through the embodiments and the like.

  According to the present invention, the simple matching of selecting an advertisement related to both the search keyword and the web page being browsed at the time of the search avoids the problem of browsing history collection and accumulation, and the effect of the search matching advertisement Can be increased.

The functional block diagram which shows the structure of 1st Embodiment of this invention. The figure which illustrates the data in 1st Embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows the process sequence in 1st Embodiment of this invention. The example of a display screen of the search result in the embodiment of the present invention. The functional block diagram which shows the structure of 2nd Embodiment of this invention. The figure which illustrates the data in 2nd Embodiment of this invention. The figure which illustrates the data in 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

  Next, a plurality of best modes for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter referred to as “the present embodiment”) will be described with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that assumptions common to those already described in the background art and problems are omitted as appropriate.

[1. Configuration of First Embodiment]
The first embodiment relates to a search system characterized by combining a search server 1 and a user terminal C via a communication network N. Among these, the search server 1 is a communication means for the arithmetic control unit 5 such as a CPU, a storage device 6 such as an external storage device (HDD or the like) or a main memory, and a communication network N, as shown in the configuration diagram of FIG. 7 (a LAN adapter or the like), and a search device that provides a web search to a user terminal C that is accessed via communication via a communication network N.

  Here, “web search” provided by the search server 1 is not limited to web page search in a narrow sense, but broadly refers to searches related to websites and their contents, such as blog search and image search. Further, regarding the computer that implements the search server 1, hardware and basic software including input / output devices and the like may be general, and therefore illustrations and details are omitted, and this also applies to the user terminal C. It is.

  The user terminal C is a computer control unit 5C provided with a communication means 7C with the communication network N, and is linked to a web browser program (hereinafter referred to as “browser”) B for displaying a web page on a display window and the browser B. The client apparatus executes the toolbar program P, which is an accompanying program.

  The search server 1 and the user terminal C include elements such as each processing unit as shown in FIG. 1, and information storage means such as a database (hereinafter referred to as “DB”) is controlled by the arithmetic control unit. Originally, it is realized on the storage device not only in a table format but also in an arbitrary format such as various files, variables such as arrays, system setting values, and the like.

  Among them, the advertisement DB 10 of the search server 1 is an advertisement-related information storage unit that stores one or two or more advertisement-related keywords (hereinafter referred to as “bidding words”) in association with each advertisement information and stored in the storage device 6. An example of the data structure and stored information (entry) is shown in FIG. Here, the “advertisement information” may be a banner advertisement image and a link destination URL that are actual advertisement contents, or an advertisement ID or the like is stored, and the advertisement contents themselves are read from another storage means (not shown). It may be.

  Other means and processing units are realized by controlling the arithmetic control units 5 and 5C with a predetermined computer program (not shown) stored (installed) in the storage devices 6 and 6C in advance, and will be described below. It is a processing means for realizing and executing various functions and processing steps.

[2. Operation of First Embodiment]
Hereinafter, the operation (operation) of the first embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
[2-1. (Sending queries and browsing pages)
The browser B used by the user at the user terminal C is provided with a predetermined toolbar program P for displaying the toolbar T, and the toolbar program P controls each of the elements 55, 60, 65 and 70 are realized. As illustrated in FIG. 4A, the toolbar T is a display area that is always displayed at the top of the web page display window W, and includes a search keyword input field T1 and a search button T2.

  When the user wants to perform a keyword search while browsing an arbitrary web page displayed on the browser B (step S1 in FIG. 3), the user inputs the desired phrase into the search keyword input field T1 of the toolbar T as a search keyword. Moreover, if a predetermined search operation such as a search button T2 operation with a mouse is performed (step S2), a search request to the search server 1, that is, a so-called search query is generated (step S3).

  That is, the query transmission unit 55 serving as a query transmission means displays the input field T1 on the toolbar T at the top of the display window W, and accepts the input of the search keyword in the input field T1 (step S2), so that the search keyword is displayed. A search query that is predetermined search request data is generated and transmitted to the predetermined search server 1 via the communication network N by the communication means 7C using, for example, an HTTP GET method or POST method (query transmission processing, step S3).

  At this time, the browsing page transmission unit 60, which is a browsing page transmission means, displays the web page that the browser B is displaying when the search query is generated, that is, data such as an HTML file representing the contents, or Information (hereinafter referred to as “page information”) that can directly or indirectly specify the content of the web page, such as a URL, is transmitted to the search server 1 via the communication network N by the communication means 7C (browsing page transmission process). Step S4). The search query and the page information corresponding to each other may be transmitted by being combined into a single communication content such as the same packet so that synchronization (association) is ensured with each other, or the search queries and the page information may be successively transmitted at a sufficiently short time interval. You may send it with

[2-2. Query acquisition and search processing)
In the search server 1 according to the present embodiment, the query acquisition unit 15 and the browsing page acquisition unit 20 constitute an information reception unit, and the information reception unit includes a search query including a search keyword input in the user terminal C. And the page information of the web page being displayed on the user terminal C when the search query is input are received in synchronization (corresponding) to each other (information receiving process).

  More specifically, first, the query acquisition unit 15 which is a query acquisition unit acquires a search query including a search keyword input and transmitted at the user terminal C as described above from the communication network N by the communication unit 7. (Query acquisition process. Step S5). The page information of the web page being displayed on the user terminal C when the search query is input is acquired from the communication network N by the communication page 7 by the browsing page acquisition unit 20 which is a browsing page acquisition unit ( Browsing page acquisition process (step S6).

  As the page information, the web page data itself such as an HTML file may be obtained by being transferred from the user terminal C, or a server that obtains only the URL from the user terminal C and provides the web page of this URL, for example. To request web page data such as an HTML file and obtain it from the server.

  Then, the web search unit 25 as a search means performs a search by using the web search DB 26 storing the search index data based on the search keyword of the search query acquired by the query acquisition unit 15. A result is obtained (search process; step S7). On the other hand, the feature word extraction unit 30 that is a feature word extraction unit extracts a feature word from a web page based on the page information acquired by the browsing page acquisition unit 20 by a known feature extraction algorithm such as tf-idf. (Feature word extraction processing. Step S8).

  In addition, the advertisement extracting unit 35 serving as an advertisement extracting unit refers to the advertisement DB 10 to relate both the feature word extracted by the feature word extracting unit 30 and the search keyword of the search query to the bid word. The advertisement information is extracted based on the above (advertisement extraction process, step S9). This extraction of advertisement information can be performed by expanding the range of feature words and search keywords to related words. In this case, the advertisement extraction unit 35 includes both the feature word extracted by the feature word extraction unit 30 or the predetermined related word thereof and the search keyword of the search query or the predetermined related word in the bid word. To extract advertisement information.

  In addition, although a related word can consider a synonym, a synonym, a high-order concept word, a low-order concept word, etc., in order to obtain | require these, related word data, such as a synonym dictionary file showing the relationship between such phrases, for example A known language processing technique may be applied, such as providing a related word DB 36 which is a related word storage means stored in the storage device 6 and using it in related word extraction processing for each phrase.

  Then, the search result page generation unit 38 as a result output means inserts the advertisement information extracted by the advertisement extraction unit 35 into the search result page that displays the search result obtained by the search by the web search unit 25, and Web page data such as an HTML file for causing the browser B to display the search result page with the advertisement information inserted therein is transmitted to the user terminal C via the communication network N by the communication means 7 and displayed on the user terminal C. (Result output process; step S10).

[2-3. (Display of search results)
That is, in the user terminal C, the search result page receiving unit 65, which is a result receiving means, receives the search result page returned from the search server 1 in response to the search query as described above (result receiving process, step S11). ) The display page switching unit 70, which is a display switching unit, switches the web page that the browser B was displaying so far to the search result page received by the search result page receiving unit 65 (display switching process, step S12). ).

  For example, FIG. 4B is a display example of the search result page. The advertisement information column A is a portion where “sponsor site” is displayed on the right side of the window W displaying the search result. Each item including the displayed hyperlink (indicated by an underline) is individual advertisement information extracted based on both the feature word and the search keyword.

[3. Effects of the first embodiment]
As described above, in the first embodiment, not only the search keyword input to the toolbar but also the information on the page being viewed that the user was viewing at the time of the search is transmitted to the server, and the advertisement is selected based on both Due to the simple configuration, the elements that are closely related to the user's intention such as the search opportunity and purpose are reflected in the advertisement, thereby realizing an advertising effect that is significantly better than before.

  In particular, in the first embodiment, for the feature word and the search keyword, by expanding the range to the related word and performing the advertisement allocation based on the advertisement related keyword, the case where there is no corresponding advertisement is reduced and the advertisement opportunity is increased. .

[4. Second Embodiment]
In the first embodiment, the phrase-based advertisement matching process is shown. However, advertisements may be allocated (selected) by matching the category determined based on the characteristic word of the web page and the search keyword (first). 2 embodiment).

  The configuration of the second embodiment is similar to that of the first embodiment, but it is not essential in the first embodiment that the provision of advertisements based on advertisement-related keywords is performed by expanding the range of feature words and search keywords to related words. Therefore, the related term DB 36 used for this is not provided in the second embodiment.

  In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5 surrounded by a broken line, the following characteristic points are mainly different. First, in the search server 1, the category DB 40 stores one or more category-related keywords (referred to as “category words”) in association with each category in a storage device as illustrated in FIG. Category storage means. Further, the advertisement DB 11 which is the advertisement related information storage means corresponds to one or two or more of the categories as shown by an elliptical broken line in FIG. 7 in addition to the bid word similar to FIG. 2 for each advertisement information. I remember it.

  Then, the advertisement extraction unit 45, which is an advertisement extraction unit, searches for a matching word from the category words stored in the category DB 40 based on the feature words extracted by the feature word extraction unit 30. An advertisement that is associated with the same category as the determined category in the category DB 40, and the search keyword of the search query or a predetermined related word thereof is included in the bid word associated with the advertisement DB 11. Extract information.

  As described above, in the second embodiment, by assigning an advertisement that matches the category determined from the feature word extracted for the page being viewed at the time of occurrence of the search query and includes the search keyword and its related word in the bid word. Therefore, it is possible to ease the dependence on the coincidence / mismatch of only the phrase unit, and to ensure the validity of the advertisement provision from a wide viewpoint of the category.

[5. Other embodiments]
In addition, said each embodiment is only an illustration, and this invention includes what is illustrated below and other embodiment other than that. For example, the configuration of FIGS. 1 and 5, the data examples of FIGS. 2, 6, and 7, the processing procedure of FIG. 3, and the screen example of FIG. The contents and the like can be changed as appropriate. In addition, for any element shown in the configuration diagram, the means of realization is not limited to the arithmetic control unit, storage device, and computer program, and can be realized with wired logic according to future technological progress and implementation circumstances. Any information processing technology other than the Neumann type or the program built-in method may be used, and such an implementation mode is also within the scope of the present invention.

N communication network C user terminal 1 search server 5, 5C arithmetic control unit 6, 6C storage device 7, 7C communication means 10, 11 advertisement DB
15 Query Acquisition Unit 20 Browsing Page Acquisition Unit 25 Web Search Unit 30 Feature Word Extraction Units 35, 45 Advertisement Extraction Unit 36 Related Word DB
38 Search result page generation unit 40 Category DB
55 Query transmission unit 60 Browsing page transmission unit 65 Search result page reception unit 70 Display page switching unit

Claims (4)

Client device for executing search device for providing web search to client device accessed via communication via communication network, web browser program for displaying web page on display window, and associated program linked with web browser program In a search system that combines and via a communication network ,
The accompanying program is
A query transmission means for displaying an input field and generating a search query including the search keyword and transmitting it to a predetermined search device by receiving an input of a search keyword in the input field;
Browsing page transmission means for transmitting to the search device the address of the web page that the web browser program was displaying when the search query occurred,
Realized,
The search device includes:
An advertisement-related information storage means for storing one or more advertisement-related keywords in association with each advertisement information;
An information receiving means for receiving a search query including a search keyword input in the client device, and an address of the web page as page information of the web page being displayed in the client device when the search query is input; ,
Search means for obtaining a search result by performing a search based only on the search keyword of the search query;
Feature word extraction means for extracting a feature word from the web page based on the received address ;
By referring to the advertisement related information storage means, the advertisement information is obtained based on the relation between both the feature word extracted by the feature word extraction means and the search keyword of the search query and the advertisement related keyword. Advertising extraction means to extract;
A result output means for inserting the advertisement information extracted by the advertisement extraction means into a search result page for displaying the search results obtained by the search by the search means and displaying the advertisement information on the client device;
The web browser program is:
The present invention is characterized in that the web page being displayed is switched to the search result page in which the advertisement information extracted by the advertisement extraction unit is inserted into a search result page displaying the search result. Search system . The advertisement extracting means includes
The advertisement information including both the feature word extracted by the feature word extraction unit or the predetermined related word thereof and the search keyword of the search query or the predetermined related word is extracted from the advertisement related keyword. The search system according to claim 1, wherein: For each category, it has category storage means for storing one or more category-related keywords in association with each other,
The advertisement related information storage means stores the advertisement related keyword and one or more categories in association with each advertisement information,
The advertisement extracting means includes
Based on the feature word extracted by the feature word extraction unit, the corresponding category is determined by searching for a match from the category-related keywords stored in the category storage unit,
The advertisement related information associated with the same category as the determined category by the category storage means, and the search keyword of the search query or a predetermined related word thereof is associated by the advertisement related information storage means The search system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein advertisement information included in the keyword is extracted. The communication method includes a search method by a search device that provides a web search to a client device that is accessed via communication via a communication network, and a client device control method that controls a client device realized by a computer connectable to the communication network. In the combination method via the network ,
The computer executes a web browser program that displays a web page in a display window, and an accompanying program that works in conjunction with the web browser program,
By controlling the computer by the accompanying program,
A query transmission process for displaying an input field and receiving a search keyword input in the input field to generate a search query including the search keyword and transmitting it to a predetermined search device;
Browsing page transmission processing for transmitting to the search device the address of the web page that was being displayed by the web browser program when the search query occurred,
Run
The search device is
Each advertisement information is associated with one or more advertisement-related keywords and stored in predetermined advertisement-related information storage means,
An information receiving process for receiving a search query including a search keyword input in the client device, and an address of the web page as page information of the web page being displayed in the client device when the search query is input; ,
A search process for obtaining a search result by performing a search based only on the search keyword of the search query;
A feature word extraction process for extracting a feature word from the web page based on the received address ;
By referring to the advertisement related information storage means, the advertisement information is determined based on the relation between both the feature word extracted by the feature word extraction process and the search keyword of the search query and the advertisement related keyword. The ad extraction process to extract,
The search results page that displays the search results obtained by the search by the searching process, perform the, result output processing for displaying on the client device while inserting the advertisement information extracted by the advertisement extraction process ,
By the web browser program controlling the computer,
Display switching process for switching the web page being displayed to the search result page in which the advertisement information extracted by the advertisement extraction process is inserted into the search result page displaying the search result
How you characterized in that the execution.

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